Rating: 
Summary: not "just a comic"
Review: Many people shy away from grahic novels, thinking they are "just comics" or "full of violence and sex" (after all, we also use the word "graphic" in front of the words "violence" and "sex" all the time in movies and television). However, this book is not "just a comic".This graphic novel tells the story of Helen Potter, sexually abused by her father for years, who runs away from home, heading for the home of her favourite childhood author, Beatrix Potter. The book starts with Helen begging on the streets of London, before she heads north to find Hill Top Farm, Beatrix's home. The story of Helen's abuse at the hands of her father, and of the complete lack of feeling and neglect from her mother, is told through flashbacks, and as Helen talks to her pet rat. This is interspersed with Helen's journey north towards the Lake District, which mirrors her journey towards the eventual confrontation with her parents and with her own self. This book is a touching story of hope told in a graphic format that will reach an audience that a more traditonal text-based novel of this ilk might not reach. The illustrations are vivid, yet the characters are also realistically portrayed (none of the gravity-defying female body parts that show up in some graphic novels!). According to the author, this book is also being used in outreach and therapy programs for abused children and teens. This is a valuable book for any library to have.
Rating:
Summary: A very gritty fairy tale about a young girl in plight
Review: This is one graphic novel you'd never encounter too frequently in a long time! It is a very illustrative and eye-opening tale about an unhappy English teenager who took her beloved rat and fled the chambers of horror which she would've called "home", which was haunted by her sexually abusive father and her haughty, unloving mother. After a whole series of very scary misadventures with sexual predators and pursuing policemen as well as begging for food and sharing a run-down room with a cocky young boy who leads a helping hand, Helen finally decides to turn around and face her worst enemy - who happens to be her own loving daddy. And, Helen also finds a very powerful inspiration in her most favorite author, Beatrix Potter - who probably had gone through the very same situation in her youth. Very clever storytelling and such beautiful, realistic artwork that truly glitters with a subtle element of fantasy and action adventure, though I found Helen's encounter with her perverted dad a bit too melodramatic and some of the characters depicted in the story are a bit ugly to look at, like the girl's mother, who is wearing too much make-up on her aging face. However, this is the very kind of creation I wish I can find on more and more of the graphic novels and comic books being produced today instead of just superheroes and oversexed young bimbos.
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